Low Frustration Tolerance Thinking Errors

Turn Low Frustration Tolerance into A Capacity to Cope

Low frustration tolerance is the idea that when things become difficult or uncomfortable that they are somehow ‘intolerable’. The problem with this thinking error is that you are less likely to tolerate discomfort even if by doing so you would obtain a benefit in the future.

The more you ‘tell yourself’ that you can’t cope or that things are ‘getting on top of you’, the less likely you are engage with those situations.

Examples of Low Frustration Tolerance

You frequently procrastinate about completing work or college assignments thinking to yourself, ‘It’s too much hassle, I’ll just do it later when I’m more in the mood’. You tend to wait until the deadline is fast approaching and it becomes too uncomfortable to put off any longer. Unfortunately this means that you ultimately put less time and effort into doing a good job and increase your own stress levels at the same time!

You are determined to overcome your Anxiety about travelling too far from home by going out and facing your fear directly. However, each time you travel a little bit further away you become anxious and think to yourself, ‘This is really too horrible to bear’ and you rush home as quickly as you can. Unfortunately this reinforces your fear rather than providing you with evidence that you can travel away from home perfectly safely.

Develop High Frustration Tolerance

The best way to beat a low frustration tolerance is to develop a new attitude that you CAN tolerate these frustration and feelings. This can be achieved by:

Push Yourself To Do the Uncomfortable Things

Try to develop the habit of starting work or college assignments within a few days of receiving them even if you really aren’t in the mood, You will find that the benefits of finishing the work in good time provides you with more satisfaction than the benefits of putting them off.

Remind Yourself That You CAN Cope

It’s far too easy to convince yourself that you can’t cope by simply telling yourself you can’t cope over and over again. Try to manage your thinking a bit more and tell yourself that even though Anxiety can be an uncomfortable feeling that you have survived those feelings many times before and that you can definitely do it again.

The problem with telling yourself that you can’t tolerate uncomfortable feelings is that it (1) makes you focus your attention exclusively on your discomfort and (2) leads to you underestimating your real ability to cope.

Believing you can’t cope just makes things seem a lot worse than they really are!

Transform Your Thinking & Improve Low Frustration Tolerance

If you’re committed to overcoming your Low Frustration Tolerance problems then we highly recommend following our Advanced Tranceformental CBT programme with Paul. Tranceformental CBT is available as Online Therapy if required.

The Tranceformental programme is a highly successful & pragmatic mental health counselling course, run over 10 sessions, that will teach you everything you need to know to understand your problem, identify how unhelpful thinking and limiting beliefs might be reinforcing the issue, and then show you how to make any changes to your Low Frustration Tolerance or maladaptive safety behaviours that you may have developed as part of your coping strategies.

Our Tranceformental CBT programme is an evidence-based, research supported approach used by mental health practitioners around the World.

Alternative Therapy Options for Low Frustration Tolerance

Although our preferred form of mental health counselling for Low Frustration Tolerance is Tranceformental CBT we also offer alternative psychotherapies for those who might prefer a different approach.

These include:

• Psychodynamic therapy which focuses more on emotional problems and relies on the Therapeutic Relationship to bring about change. Available with Paul.
• General Counselling which is less structured but still provides a safe and non-judgmental environment to discuss issues which is therapeutic in its own right.
• Hypnotherapy is an alternative form of therapy that can be applied to a very wide range of problems and is available with Joan.

Free Initial Consultations for Low Frustration Tolerance

We offer all prospective clients an initial consultation to discuss your Low Frustration Tolerance prior to commencing any treatment plans.

The consultation is free and lasts around 50 minutes.

During this consultation we will discuss the various options that are available to you and make a considered recommendation based on your individual personal circumstances.

Initial consultations are also available as part of our online therapy service.

At TranceForm Psychology we recognise the importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping people to bring about effective change, so its important to be able to ‘meet’ to discuss our change programmes BEFORE proceeding.

Our policy is to help people make a fully balanced & considered decision about undertaking work with us, including both the financial and personal implications.